THE ABSENT

CRIPPLED HEARTS

SOLIDARITY WITH THE FLESH EATING MOSAIC AND OTHER POEMS by Raj Dronamraju

Out Now

THE RETURN OF THE MAGNIFICENT NINNY AND OTHER POEMS by Raj Dronamraju

My first book of poetry available through Amazon and other online booksellers www.rajbooks.com

Saturday, February 7, 2015

WHY SCOTT WALKER IS THE CANDIDATE MOST LIKELY TO BE THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE IN 2016

At this time, objectively
speaking, my feeling is that Scott Walker is the most likely 2016 Republican
presidential nominee for the following reasons. (My disclaimer – I no way
support Walker or the Republican Party.
This is just my thoughts from an analytical perspective).

1.) He’s a governor whose state has been both
ground zero and a petri dish for all the most extreme conservative ideas in
governance to be acted upon most notably anti-union and anti-teacher
legislation. This will pump up the base
like none of the other candidates. Also
a governor traditionally has been viewed as better preparation for the presidency.

2.) He’s a bit of blank slate
on foreign policy and immigration but that is coming. He touches the many different wings of the
Republican Party (financial, social issues, etc.) in a way that only Ted Cruz
does of other potential candidates (And I personally think it’s likely Cruz won’t
run)

3.) Despite his hard right position
on issues, his public persona is of a bloodless technocrat. The image in many people’s minds of the Republican
Party as a group of crazed lunatics has so far been contradicted by his mild
mannered persona. It will be hard for
the Democrats to present him in this way.

4.) He is apparently the most
popular candidate of two of the main Republican donors – The Koch Brothers and
Sheldon Adelson. Money is everything in
politics in the USA.

5.) Democratc overconfidence –
In addition to the self-created feeling of the inevitability of Hillary Clinton
(topic of another post – She’s far from inevitable even as the nominee), I’ve
noticed from reading different political websites that Walker is being mocked
for his lack of a college degree. That’s
a dangerous and elitist path for the Dems.
Many Americans have been unable to complete their degree due to the
rising cost of education. Not having a
college degree is in no way an indicator of intelligence and ability while many
lawmakers of both parties are lawyers – Still a hated profession among the
general public. Also none of the various
scandals that have been looked into around Walker (most noticeably campaign
finance violations) have panned out.
None of them were sexy enough unfortunately to warrant further investigation
or prosecution despite the presence of (in the campaign finance case) of e-mails
that implicated Walker by himself.

In general, the Democratic
strategy of besting Walker so far has consisted of campaign finance accusations,
Koch Brothers linkage, and not having a college degree –Pretty weak. Dems underestimate Walker at their own peril.

We’ve still got a long way to
go with many candidate debates to come.
Walker, however, sums up the Republican party now in terms of what he
wants to do better than anybody else at the moment. If you want to see how a Republican president
would govern in conjunction with a Republican house and senate, take a look at
the career of Scott Walker.